Mobile (park homes): 10% commission on sales

The requirement to pay commission

When an owner of a mobile/park home situated on a site covered by the Mobile Homes Act 1983 (as amended) sells their home, there is a requirement to pay commission on the sale to the site owner. The maximum rate of commission is prescribed in regulations made by the Secretary of State and is currently set at 10% of the sale price.

There has been a polarised debate over the years about the commission payment, with park home owners calling for the rate to be reduced or abolished, and site owners arguing for the commission payment to be maintained.

The general justification for the commission charge is that what is sold is an amalgam of the value of the park home and the value of the site on which it is placed. Site owners regard the charge as an important source of income which allows them to reinvest in the parks and maintain higher standards without additional costs for park home owners.

Park home owners regard the requirement to pay commission as unfair and outdated. Some argue that the commission charge traps them financially and prevents them from moving. Various organisations, such as Park Home Owners Justice Campaign (PHOJC), have campaigned for reform. The PHOJC has argued that the 10% charge should be based on the difference between the last sale price and the current sale price.

Policy Reviews England

The commission charge has been reviewed several times since it was last amended (reduced from 15%) in 1983.

In 2015, the Government set up a Park Homes Working Group “to identify evidence of poor practice where it exists, and investigate how best to raise standards and further tackle abuse.” The Working Group, which included national resident groups and industry trade bodies, considered the issue of the 10% commission charge, but was unable to reach a consensus.

The Government conducted a two-part review of mobile (park) homes legislation in 2017. The 10% commission charge was outside of the scope of the review. However, many consultation responses raised the issue, and the Government said it would give the matter further consideration separately from the review. The Government’s response to the review, published on 22 October 2018, consequently confirmed the Government would commission research to gather relevant data to enable a detailed assessment of the likely impacts of a change to the 10% commission charge on park home and site owners.

In March 2021, following a scoping study, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) commissioned the University of Liverpool and Sheffield Hallam University to carry out the research. A final report outlining the key findings and recommendations was published in June 2022.

The authors recommended:

• The maximum commission on park home sales should not be reduced without financial support for smaller parks.
• Further work to explore and clarify the rationale of the commission charge.
• Further action to strengthen the professionalism of park operatives.
• Further work to explore the efficacy of local authority enforcement on parks, including consideration of whether a national enforcement body could ensure a more consistent and higher quality of park operation.

The Government is considering the report’s recommendations and will publish a response in due course.

Wales

The Welsh Government held a public consultation on the park homes commission rate from May to August 2017, inviting views on whether the rate should continue at its current level of 10% or be reduced or abolished. The Welsh Government subsequently commissioned further financial analysis to inform its decision. On 5 June 2018, the Minister for Housing and Regeneration announced the decision to lower the commission rate by 1 percentage point per year, over a 5-year period, until it was reduced to a maximum of 5% of the purchase price. The Welsh Government subsequently conducted a further consultation on how best to implement the commission rate reduction.

In January 2019, on the application of the British Holiday and Home Parks Association and a park owner, the Administrative Court for Wales gave permission for a Judicial Review of the Welsh Government’s decision to reduce the rate of commission. The Welsh Government undertook not to introduce any changes to the maximum commission rate until the Judicial Review was complete.

On 27 March 2019, the Minister for Housing and Local Government issued a written statement on implementing changes to the park homes commission rate. The Minister confirmed the proposed reduction in the maximum rate of commission would not go ahead at that time. Instead, she said the matter would be considered afresh, following further engagement with the sector, and she was minded to commission further research.

In an update on 18 November 2020, the Minister reported the evidence gathering work around the commission rate had been temporarily postponed to enable officials to focus on the immediate challenges of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

In response to a written question on 21 February 2023, the Minister for Climate Change confirmed the Welsh Government had postponed work on gathering evidence on the commission rate for the remainder of the Senedd term.

Scotland

In 2011, the Scottish Government consulted on proposals to amend the implied terms in the Mobile Homes Act 1983. The consultation invited views on the commission on mobile/park home sales, and its relationship to other sources of business income for site owners, such as pitch fees. Following the consultation, the Scottish Government decided to retain the 10% commission rate. In 2019, the Scottish Government said it had no plans to review the commission rate again.